Iowa to Host Kansas State in First Round of NIT
The field is set for the 2024 NIT and it includes Iowa (18-14, 10-10 Big Ten). The Hawkeyes made the field as a 3-seed. In the first round, Iowa will face off with Kansas State (19-14, 8-10 Big 12) with an 8 pm CT tipoff at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday, March 19. ESPN is set to televise the game.
Players and coaches at Iowa made it abundantly clear throughout the season that their ultimate goal for the season was to get to the NCAA Tournament, and going into the Big Ten Tournament last week, the Hawkeyes would have needed multiple wins to make that happen.
Their efforts in the Big Ten Tourney were to no avail, as the seventh-seeded Hawkeyes fell to tenth seeded Ohio State in their first game, 90-78.
Following the loss, the Iowa players' disappointment was clear, but there was optimism surrounding the fact that the group does have more basketball in its future.
"A lot of people don't get to play any more," Tony Perkins said following the loss. "I'm not okay with being done and not playing at all. The fact that we get to play is all that matters."
Another senior leader on the roster, Patrick McCaffery sees it as an opportunity for their young roster to continue to develop.
"No, I don't think it'll [be difficult to lead]," he said. "I'm excited to continue to lead and grow with our team. We have a lot of younger guys that still need to be led. I'll never quit on this team until we're done playing. I'm just going to continue to go to practice every day, treat it all the same and continue to work."
The Matchup
Kansas State will travel to Iowa City for the first round matchup, as the Hawkeyes are the higher seed. Jerome Tang and the Wildcats are coming off a 76-57 loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament.
Tylor Perry led KSU in scoring this season, putting up 15.5 points over 36.5 minutes per game. Arthur Kaluma (14.7 ppg) and Cam Carter (14.6 ppg) were just behind Perry in scoring this season. Kaluma led the Wildcats in rebounds at 7.1 per game, while Perry led the team in assists with 4.3 per contest.
Perry was the lone Wildcat to earn a Big 12 All-Conference honor this season, taking a spot on the conference's Honorable Mention team.
If Iowa beats the Wildcats, the Hawkeyes will face the winner of the game between Utah and UC-Irvine. Utah is the 2-seed and would be the host if the second round game is Iowa-Utah. Iowa would be in line to host an Iowa-UC Irvine game in the second round game, although the presence of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament in Iowa City over the weekend could complicate things as well. We'll provide more information on that situation as it becomes available.